


The Most Human Thing Of All

by SophieW19



Category: The Good Place (TV)
Genre: Eventual Romance, I promise!, M/M, Romance, Shawn is a little shirt, but they're gonna talk about their feelings, it'll be great
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-25
Updated: 2020-11-19
Packaged: 2021-03-09 06:13:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27199009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SophieW19/pseuds/SophieW19
Summary: When Michael dies on Earth, his friends rally to give him the best afterlife test they can. Tahani, who leads the project, decides it’s time for a little petty revenge. When Michael wakes up, he’s going to meet his soulmate.
Relationships: Michael/Shawn (The Good Place)
Comments: 22
Kudos: 93





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [For The First Time In Forever](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23177275) by [MarlaHectic](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MarlaHectic/pseuds/MarlaHectic). 



Shawn sat up straight in his chair. Something was wrong. He wasn’t sure what, but there was something off about the universe. He looked around the room, craning his neck to see if Glenn had snuck in again while he was distracted.

“Are you alright, darling?” Tahani asked. The human was sitting to his right, at the head of the table, and looking at him with a confused expression. Shawn turned to face her, making sure not to let any emotions show.

“Of course I’m alright. And don’t call me ‘darling’”, He shuddered at the word. The two of them had worked together for hundreds of bearimys, but she still insisted on trying to befriend him. It was disgusting.

Tahani simply rolled her eyes at Shawn’s statement, and carried on addressing the room. “So as I was saying, we need to start thinking about using some of our architects as actors. There are people that are taking a little longer to pass their tests than we expected, so if we don’t act soon we’re going to find ourselves with a shortage of actors, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to let what happened to Billy Crystal’s one man play happen to this system.”

“I’ll start scouting during my training sessions.” Vicky said, making a note before adding, “And if you ever need a new lead actress…”

“Yes we’ll come running to you, we know.” Tahani waved her off. “So that’s all I had to talk about today, is there anything else-” Before she could finish her sentence, the doors to the conference room swung open, with Glenn crashing through them. Everyone in the room turned to face him, with varying degrees of annoyance.

“I’m so sorry to interrupt, but someone really important just died, and I had to tell you all!” He said, smiling wide, and clasping his hands together in typical Glenn fashion.

“Shut up Glenn, no one cares that your favourite movie star died.” Shawn said, standing to leave.

“Ignore him darling.” Tahani said reassuringly. “Who’s died?”

“It’s Michael.” Glenn said. Shawn sat back down in his chair, stunned. Michael died. That meant he would be taking an afterlife test, and then-

“Dibs on designing his test!” Tahani blurted out, earning strange looks from her demon colleagues. “Erm, that is, would it be an inconvenience to anyone if I designed Michael’s test? I do know him quite well, after all.” She cleared her throat and straightened her bow tie as she spoke. Shawn rolled his eyes.

“If you insist, but on one condition. I get to be one of the actors.” He said. Now it was his turn to be given strange looks. Tahani was the one to speak first.

“I’m sorry… You want to take part in Michael’s test?” She asked carefully. Surely she’d misheard him.

“Yes. If anyone is going to mess with Michael it’s going to be me.” Shawn replied, sitting up straight to look composed.

“Well, alright, if you’re sure. Do you have a particular role in mind?” Tahani said, an idea forming in her head.

“You’re the architect, you figure it out. I’ve got more important things to do.” Shawn finished, standing back up and starting to leave the room.

“Oh, okay, we’ll let you know when we have a plan, I guess?” Tahani called after him. The room stayed silent as Shawn walked through the conference doors. The second they closed, the demons sitting at the table all turned towards Tahani. A devious look began to spread across her face.

“So we all agree that there’s something going on between Shawn and Michael, right?” She said, leaning forward in her seat.

“Oh yeah, they’ve been going at it for centuries.” Vicky replied.

“Oh it’s been going on longer than that.” Glenn piped up. “Shawn taught Michael everything he knew about torturing humans. Most people noticed something after the first millennia or so. When Michael defected to the other side, it was kind of like they went through a break up.”

“Yeah, Shawn was pissed. You couldn’t even think about mentioning Michael’s name without being gooed.” Chris said.

“Oh my, so Shawn was really heartbroken?” Tahani asked, earning groans of disgust from the demons.

“We don’t really use that word around here. We’re demons, we don’t have feelings.” Bambadjan said.

“But yeah that’s basically what happened.” Vicky agreed. “Michael and Shawn were really close,  _ wink wink _ , and then Michael betrayed Shawn in the worst possible way.”

“Right, well in that case, I think I have the perfect part for Shawn to play!” Tahani clapped her hands in excitement.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you've made it this far I just want to say thank you so much for reading this, it's something that just wouldn't leave my head, and I'm so happy with how it turned out! I hope you liked it, feel free to let me know in the comments if you have any ideas for how this could play out, any criticisms, etc, and I hope you have a great day! <3


	2. Chapter 2

Michael opened his eyes. He was sitting on a comfortable sofa, and across from him was a large wall, with the words “Welcome! Everything is fine!” written in large green letters. He smiled. Everything was fine.

A door opened, and he turned to see a short woman standing there in an orange suit. She smiled at him.

“Michael? I’m Vicky. Come on in.” The woman gestured for him to follow her, and so he did. The room she led him into was an office. At one end sat a large desk with some chairs in front of it, and at the other was a glass case with various random objects. Vicky walked over to the desk and took a seat behind it. Michael followed her and carefully sat down.

“So, Michael. I’m sure you have some questions.” Vicky said, in that same calming tone. Michael looked around the room once more before answering.

“A few, yeah..” He chuckled lightly, trailing off as he noticed a large portrait on the wall to his right. It looked like a picture of Vicky, in the exact outfit she was wearing now. Vicky noticed him looking and grinned.

“Ah, that was a little gift I gave myself. I’m a big enough woman to admit that I’m often inspired by myself.” She said, staring at her own face for a moment before continuing. “But we can come back to that. Let’s focus on you for a minute.”

“Right, yes. Um, who are you, and where am I, and what’s going on?” Michael asked, turning his attention back to the real Vicky in front of him.

“Well, you, Michael Realman, are dead.” Vicky began. “Your time on Earth has ended, and you are now entering your next phase of existence in the universe.” Michael sat there in stunned silence.

“Wow. Okay. Gotta admit, that’s a bit of a bummer.” He said, more to himself than to Vicky, who still wore that perfect smile.

“Not for you it isn’t, because you made it to the good place, Michael, congratulations!” She chimed in, grabbing Michael’s attention.

“I’m where?”

“Well, relatively speaking, in the afterlife, there’s a good place, and there’s a bad place. While on Earth, all of your actions are allocated a certain number of points, and the points you collected qualified you to spend the rest of eternity in paradise.” Vicky explained.

Wow.. that’s… that’s incredible!” Michael laughed, clasping his hand to his mouth in shock. “I didn’t even think I was that extraordinary!”

“Oh don’t be so modest!” Vicky replied. “You showed everyone you met the same level of kindness and care most people only save for their families, or close friends. You truly were a good person, Michael.”

“I… Thank you, thank you so much!” Michael began to tear up.

“So with that out of the way, would you like to see the place?” Vicky asked. Michael nodded, and the two of them got up to leave.

***

The neighbourhood was incredible. Cobbled streets took Michael and Vicky through a quaint little shopping/food centre, where various people were already walking around, eating frozen yogurt, and generally looking like someone who just got into heaven would.

“So each neighbourhood in the good place is designed with it’s residents in mind. You know, what food they like, what kind of environment they’d prefer to live in, that kind of thing.” Vicky was explaining. “Every single person in these neighbourhoods have been hand picked by our good place architects. Each soul is perfectly matched, to blend together in a blissful, harmonic balance.”

Michael tried his best to pay attention, but everything around him was a distraction. For example, in the 30 seconds Vicky had been talking, they had passed no less than five frozen yogurt places. Also he couldn’t be sure but he could have sworn that on the way into town, he had seen someone walking with what looked to be a pet unicorn. His mind was just reeling at all the information being thrown at him.

“I… I’m sorry but I still have a few questions.” He eventually asked, cutting Vicky off. She looked at him, a little surprised.

“Oh, sure, what do you want to know?” She asked, still with that polite smile and calming tone of voice.

“Well gosh, where do I start..” Michael began, looking around him as he spoke, “How about… why all the frozen yogurt?”

“Because people love frozen yogurt, of course!” Vicky answered without missing a beat. “And for your other questions, feel free to just ask Janet! Janet?”  
At the mention of the name, a woman appeared out of thin air next to Vicky. She wore the same kind smile Vicky did, and around her neck was a delicate purple necklace, with the letters "J+J" written on the pendant.

"Hi, how can I help?" The woman asked in a chipper voice.

"Michael, this is Janet. She's basically a vessel of information. She can answer any of your questions, and get you anything you want. She's here to make your time in the good place easier." Vicky said, gesturing to Janet. Michael, who was still in shock over Janet's entrance, simply stood there in silence, his eyes wide.

"It's nice to meet you, Michael." Janet said with a smile.

"Er...You too." Michael's voice came out hoarse, and he gave Janet a weak wave. The two women watched him, concerned.

"I think that's all for now, Janet." Vicky said, and Janet disappeared back into thin air. "Maybe that was a bit too much too soon for you, Michael. Do you want to see your new home? Maybe… Have a lie down?" Michael nodded, still staring at the spot where Janet had stood.

Vicky guided him through the town centre, just past a fountain, before stopping in front of a small apartment building, with ivy growing up the walls.

"Welcome home, Michael." She said, gently taking him by his arm. The two of them walked into the building, up three flights of stairs, before stopping in front of a brown door, with the number 13 plated on it. Vicky opened the door, and Michael stepped into a spacious apartment.

“So this apartment has been decorated to suit the tastes and desires you had back on Earth.” Vicky was explaining. “We know that you always wanted to relax in a massive armchair with your dog by a roaring fire? Now you can.” With a wave of her hand, Vicky gestured to a large fireplace sitting against a wall. Above it hung a painting of a flock of pigeons, pecking at seeds on a city street, while a hand threw more food at the ground. And next to the fire sat a large red armchair, with a great dane curled up on the cushions. Michael put a hand to his mouth.

“Jason?” He said, and at his word the dog bolted upright. Once it saw Michael’s face it came bounding over, and jumped up at it’s owner. “Jason, oh my gosh, it’s really you!” Michael said, petting the dog with tears in his eyes. “Oh my, thank you, thank you so much for this!”

“Our architects saw how much your dog meant you during your time on Earth, and knew that you wouldn’t want to live in paradise without him.” Vicky smiled, giving Jason a quick scratch behind the ears. “Do you want to see the rest of the place?” Michael nodded, and Vicky led him through and began the tour.

The apartment was perfect. There was plenty of room for Jason to move around, so he wouldn’t feel cooped up, and everything Michael could have dreamed of doing was in there. The bedroom had a queen sized bed, so that Jason could sleep with him at night, and in the living room he had a bookcase containing every single book he had ever read during his life on Earth. He was given a massive kitchen, with a microwave that could instantly make any of his favourite foods. The bathroom had the most luxurious bath and shower he had ever seen, and the guest bedroom was full of cute cross stitches displaying on the walls, with meaningless inspirational quotes such as “hang in there”, and “live, laugh, love”. After the tour was over, Michael and Vicky sat down on the large sofa in the living room.

“So, what do you think?” Vicky asked with a grin.

“Oh.. I love it so much! I really can’t thank you enough.” Michael said, happily cuddling onto Jason, who had spread himself across Michael’s lap, and onto Vicky’s.

“Well I’m glad you’re happy. Although you haven’t seen everything just yet.” Vicky replied, her grin turning into a sly smile. Michael looked back at her, confused, but before her could open his mouth to say something, there was a knock at the door.

Vicky got up and practically skipped to the front door, opening it with a flourish. Standing on the other side was a man. He stood just a few inches shorter than Michael, which meant that he towered over Vicky, and wore a smart brown suit, complete with a red tie. His face held a stern expression, as if he didn’t want to be there.

“Michael, I’ve got someone special I want you to meet. This is-”

“Kevin. My name is Kevin.” The man spoke suddenly, cutting Vicky off. Vicky seemed to look confused for a second, before shaking it off and carrying on.

“Yes. Michael, this is Kevin. He’s your soulmate.” She said, grinning again, and pulled Kevin through the door and into the living room. Michael stood up, forcing Jason off his lap.

“My... soulmate?” He whispered, a mixture of shock, joy, and fear on his face. Vicky’s grinned widened.

“That’s right! Remember what I said earlier about each soul being hand picked by our good place architects? Well among those souls is each person’s true soulmate.” Vicky explained. Michael and Kevin now stood facing each other. Michael was staring right into Kevin’s eyes, while his soulmate seemed to be looking at anything but Michael’s face. Vicky watched with curiosity and excitement. After a few moment’s silence, she spoke up again.

“So.. I’ll leave you two to get better acquainted.” She said, heading for the door. Oh, before I forget, one of your neighbours is holding a welcome party for everyone tonight. It starts at 6, and I’ve been told the dress code is black tie. Janet will give you all the details.” She finished, slipping out the front door. And then she was gone. As soon as the door clicked shut, Michael and Kevin were once again left in awkward silence. Michael wanted to get Kevin talking, but wasn’t quite sure what to say. He’d never had a soulmate before.

“So…” He started, weakly. “What did you do for a living, Kevin?” Kevin remained stiff, still refusing to look Michael in the eye.

“I… was a lawyer.” He said in a restrained voice. Michael was surprised by his answer.

“Oh, that’s impressive. What kind?”

“Criminal.” Kevin answered, his eyes darting around the room.

“I’m sorry, but are you okay? Would you like to sit down, or…” Michael trailed off, not sure what to say next.

“Actually, I have something to tell you!” Kevin blurted out. He looked around the room once more, and sat down on the sofa nervously. Michael hurried to sit next to him.

“Well, we’re soulmates, I’m sure you can tell me anything.” Michael reassured him.

“I don’t know about that. This is something big.”

“Well what is it?” Kevin looked directly at Michael for the first time since his arrival. He grabbed Michael’s hand and stared at him intensely.

“Before I tell you, I need to know that you’ll support me, no matter what. You can’t betray me for any reason.” Kevin said, with what looked like fear in his eyes. Michael gently squeezed Kevin’s hand.

“Kevin, I am your soulmate. I would never betray you, for any reason.” He said in what he hoped was a reassuring tone. Kevin took a deep breath, and spoke.

“I’m not supposed to be here. I was sent to the good place by mistake. I was not a good person on Earth, in fact I think all good people are stupid. I need you to help me hide out before they realise who I really am.” He said in a rapid tone. Michael just stared at his soulmate in stunned silence.

“Wait what?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew, this was a long one! The next two will be much shorter, because I had to cut this one off, it was getting way too long for just one chapter! Anyway, as always, I hope you enjoyed it, and that you have a great day! <3


	3. Chapter 3

“I’m not supposed to be here.”

The words sounded just as crazy the second time. This had to be some kind of joke. Michael paced back and forth in front of the sofa, where Kevin was sitting with Jason. 

“So to recap. You think you’ve been sent to the good place by mistake?” He asked, his voice shaking.

“I don’t think, I know.” Kevin replied. 

“But how can you be sure?” Michael countered. “I mean, this place is run by some kind of celestial beings that can make random people appear out of thin air, a mistake like this doesn’t sound like something they’d do.”

“Vicky showed me a screen with all of my memories from Earth, and I’m pretty sure I never fought all of those human rights cases. Gross.” Kevin said, shuddering at the thought. Michael turned to face him.

“But.. you said you were a lawyer.” He said slowly.

“Yeah, but I never took on boring clients like that. I wanted to actually make some money.” Kevin scoffed. Michael took a deep breath.

“What kind of clients did you represent?”

“Wall Street, mostly. Ooh, I once worked for this firm that had turned one of their conference rooms into like a mini arcade, it was great.” Kevin laughed.

“And what was the case they wanted you to work?” Michael asked hesitantly.

“Oh some chick tried to sue one of the partners for harassment.” Kevin said that last word with air quotes. “It was bull, obviously, I mean she was basically asking for it.” Michael collapsed into an armchair and placed his head into his hands. He started letting out muffled screams.

“This can’t be happening. I mean why me?” He whined after a minute. “Out of every soul in the universe, I just happen to get paired with the only mistake in paradise!”

“Hey, you’re not exactly my first pick as a soulmate either.” Kevin said indignantly, sitting up in his seat. “But we’re stuck here together, so you might as well just get used to me, because I’m not going anywhere.” Michael stared ahead of him, lost in thought. He took a deep breath, and after what felt like an age, he stood up, and silently walked into the bedroom.

When he emerged, he was wearing a polished tuxedo. He walked back in front of Kevin, and looked him straight in the eye.

“Well, aren’t you going to get dressed?” Michael asked calmly, arching an eyebrow. 

“For...what?” Kevin asked, confused.

“For the welcome party. Should be starting soon, we wouldn’t want to be late.” Michael replied, sitting back down in the armchair and opening up a book. Kevin stared at him as he casually flipped through the pages.

“So you’re okay with everything now?” Kevin questioned. “Not that I care what you think, but you seemed pretty scared two minutes ago.”

“Of course I’m fine.” Michael shrugged off the thought. “Because I realised something.”

“Which is?” Kevin rolled his eyes at how vague Michael was being. It was kind of creepy. Michael put his book down and looked up.

“If you want to stay here, then Vicky and the others need to believe you actually belong here. And if you want to convince them, then you’ll have to start acting good. None of which you can do without my help.” He said with a slight smirk.

“Yeah right.” Kevin scoffed. “As if I’m going to take goody-two-shoes lessons from someone who thinks bowties are still cool.” Michael’s hand went up to touch his bowtie, but he pushed it back down.

“It’s either you accept my help, or you literally spend eternity in hell. It’s your choice. Now are you getting ready for the party or not?” Kevin squinted in thought for a moment, before leaning back in his chair with a smirk.

“I don’t think I’m gonna go. It sounds lame.” He said. Michael scowled.

“Fine.” He said, standing up and heading for the door. “You stay here and do whatever you want. I’m going to go have a fun time and drink some free alcohol.” Kevin sat up at those last words.

“There’s free drinks?” He asked.

“This is the good place, Kevin, of course there are free drinks.” Michael replied as he left the apartment, closing the door behind him.

***

“Hi! What can I get you?” Janet asked from behind the bar.

“Scotch, neat.” Kevin replied curtly. He took the drink as it materialised in Janet’s hand, and turned to stand next to Michael.

“I can’t believe you dragged me here.” He groaned, taking a big swig.

“I didn’t drag you anywhere. You’re the one who ran after me.” Michael said, his tone just as blunt as Kevin’s.

“I didn’t run after you, I just happened to catch up because you walk so slowly.” Kevin said, refusing to look at Michael.

“Right. Well I’m going to go be a nice person and make some friends. You’ll still be here sulking in the corner, I assume?” Michael began walking off, leaving Kevin to just stand there.

As he went, Michael took his time to properly look at the house he was in. The party was being held in a gorgeous mansion, far bigger than the other houses in the neighbourhood. Everyone gathered in what looked like the main hall. There were small tables spread out with fancy food on them, while giant chandeliers hung from the ceiling above them. Everyone was dressed in black tie, and above what looked like a stage area was a giant banner that read “Welcome To The Neighbourhood!” written in fancy cursive lettering. Everything about this party was fancy. From the décor, right down to the host’s accent.

“Darling! So good to see you, are you having a good time?” Tahani said, appearing in front of Michael. Like the others, she was dressed to the nines, in a floor length yellow dress, and gorgeous gold jewellery around her neck and wrists. Michael smiled.

“Everything’s perfect, Tahani, I’m having the best time!” He reassured her, raising his glass slightly.

“Oh wonderful!” Tahani beamed back. “I’m so glad you’re enjoying yourself. Although, I do worry about your soulmate.” She glanced over Michael’s shoulder to where Kevin was standing across the room. “I dare say, he’s bumped into quite a few people since he arrived. Is he feeling alright?”

“Oh I’m sure he’s fine. Just a bit clumsy, is all.” Michael said, resisting the urge to roll his eyes. Tahani gave him an odd look.

“Well, if you’re sure. Oh, do partake in the nibbles, darling, and get ready, we’re going to start the speeches soon.” Tahani placed a reassuring hand on Michael’s shoulder, gave him a smile, before leaving him to attend to other party business.

Michael turned back to watch Kevin, who had “accidentally” bumped into another random partygoer, spilling some of his drink down the person’s dress. He gave a sigh, and slowly walked back over, downing the rest of his drink as he did so.

“Why do you keep doing that to people?” Michael asked as he got closer. “You’re wasting good scotch.” Kevin looked over and scowled.

“It’s forking heaven, idiot, I think they’ve got plenty of scotch.” Kevin laughed, sticking his foot out in front of him. “Besides, these people are way too nice. I’ve spilled drinks on most of them and they’ve all taken the blame and said sorry. It’s hilarious.” Michael slapped a hand to his forehead.

“That’s not hilarious, that’s mean, Kevin!” He said incredulously.

“Oh is it mean? Oh, I’m so sowwy!” Kevin mocked, pouting his lip and laughing some more. As he spoke, he wiggled his foot out even further in front of him.

“And what are you doing that for??” Michael asked, gesturing down at Kevin's shoe.

“Because I’m gonna trip someone up, duh.” Kevin replied, taking a sip of his drink. Michael just stared at him, his mouth hanging open in shock.

“Okay that’s enough, this has gone too far, Kevin!” Michael said firmly. “We’re going home, now. You can’t keep treating people this way.” 

“Don’t tell me what to do, I’m in heaven, I can do what I want!” Kevin argued back. Before Michael could reply, Vicky appeared on stage next to Tahani. 

“Hi everyone, thank you all so much for coming out tonight!” She said with a wide smile. “Don’t worry, we won’t keep you too long, but Tahani and I just wanted to say a few words.” Kevin rolled his eyes as Vicky carried on.

“Ugh, this sucks.” He groaned, before a woman began to walk past him and Michael. He smirked, and stealthily stuck his foot out again. Michael turned to stop him, but he noticed too late. The woman tripped on Kevin’s foot, and was sent flying into the table in front of her. 

Time seemed to slow down as the woman tumbled into the table, knocking over the drinks and candles that sat on top of it. Michael watched, horrified, as the drinks were thrown onto a curtain, with the candles landing right next to them. Before anyone could even blink, the curtain went up in flames, earning gasps and murmurs of surprise from the other guests. Kevin began to laugh, his trick working out better than he could have imagined, while Michael stood, frozen.

“Oh, fork me…” Was all he could say.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, sorry this took so long! College has been kicking my butt, and I'm not one of those people that can promise regular updates, but I'm hoping to have Chapter 4 written and posted before 2020 ends!
> 
> Anyway holy frick this has 194 hits already?? That's insane!! But yeah thank you to the people giving this a chance, you're all super valid, and I'll be back to ramble at the end of the next chapter, bye!

**Author's Note:**

> If you've made it this far I just want to say thank you so much for reading this, it's something that just wouldn't leave my head, and I'm so happy with how it turned out! I hope you liked it, feel free to let me know in the comments if you have any ideas for how this could play out, any criticisms, etc, and I hope you have a great day! <3


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